...there was a cute story when he and Igor first arrived in Vancouver.

Thye were shopping at a local Safeway (I believe with Steamer who was acclimating them to the Western life, the hood and such things) and Stans wife came down an aisle to see Krutovs woman with her buggie just packed with food.

Through interpretation with Igor et cetera they determined that she thought she had hit the jackpot with all the food on the shelves and that she better stock up while they hadthe opportunity.

After assuring her, to her intial disbelief, that the store always had this amount of food available she was talked into putting a few things back for next trip.

donlever wrote:Through interpretation with Igor et cetera they determined that she thought she had hit the jackpot with all the food on the shelves and that she better stock up while they hadthe opportunity.

After assuring her, to her intial disbelief, that the store always had this amount of food available she was talked into putting a few things back for next trip.

Farhan Lalji wrote:Sorry if this is an inappropriate remark on my part, but it's a genuine question:

Did he happen to pass away due to type 2 diabetes complications?

First of all, that is very insensitive, particularly for a goddamn hockey talk message board.

It would more likely be due to some other factor if the info in the Province article is correct. "stomach bleeding" as it was described could be bleeding of esophageal varicose veins, which pools into the stomach. A common cause of this is cirrhosis of the liver which seems consistent with certain lifestyle activities that the big guy had.

That's just some speculating though. I don't actually know the guy at all!

Farhan Lalji wrote:Sorry if this is an inappropriate remark on my part, but it's a genuine question:

Did he happen to pass away due to type 2 diabetes complications?

First of all, that is very insensitive, particularly for a goddamn hockey talk message board.

It would more likely be due to some other factor if the info in the Province article is correct. "stomach bleeding" as it was described could be bleeding of esophageal varicose veins, which pools into the stomach. A common cause of this is cirrhosis of the liver which seems consistent with certain lifestyle activities that the big guy had.

That's just some speculating though. I don't actually know the guy at all!

suffice to say that at 52, unless it was unfortunate timing at a crosswalk, whatever killed him was most likely shite lifestyle choices

No car accident. I bet Rayxor is right on the money. The media says that he suddenly fell sick in his home and was taken to a hospital where he was treated for internal bleeding and liver related problems.

It doesn't matter.

The guy couldn't resist food or drink, but he was still a great athlete. One of the best hockey players the world has seen.

You never got to see that in Vancouver. He came poorly prepared to the NHL, he never learned the language, and he couldn't handle having free access to food and drink. He still had a 0.56 PPG rate, which is half decent, but it was not what Burke was paying for. He was paying for and expecting world class, that Krutov had shown he was capable off. I mean, look at these numbers:

Soviet league: GP438 G288 A215 TP503 PPG 1.15 The guy netted 1.15 points per game. Not in his best year. Over his career!

Larionov netted 0.95 PPG in the Soviet league, 0.89 at the World Championships, 1.05 at the Olympics, 0.52 at the Canada Cup, 1.20 at the WJC and 0.80 in the NHL.Makarov netted 1.37 in the Soviet league, 1.24 at the world championships, 1.27 at the Olympics, 1.35 at the Canada Cup, 1.64 at the WJC and 0.91 in the NHL.Pavel Bure netted 0.77 in the Soviet league, 0.85 at the world championships, 1.00 at the Olympics, didn't play Canada Cup, 1.86 at the WJC and 1.11 in the NHL.Gretzky netted 1.40 at the World Championships, 0.67 at the Olympics, 1.86 at the Canada Cup, 2.83 at the WJC and 1.92 in the NHL.

Sure, scoring isn't everything, but I'd say Krutov was the best in the KLM line when the chips were down, in the tournaments with the toughest opposition, ie the Olympics, the WJC and the Canada Cup.

He was clearly better than Bure, but not quite as good as Gretzky.

It's too bad he didn't have Tichonov with him to Canada, to keep him in line and make sure he trained right and ate right.

At the end of his career he was playing in the second and third tier leagues of Sweden, still netting well over a point per game, but barely making it back to the bench after a shift... Of course at that level he was playing for pocket money. I heard one team he played for had a sponsor agreement with a local grocery store, which said Krutov could pick up food there for free. Before his wife arrived to join him, he'd go by the store after practice every day and pick up a cake and a six pack...

Let me just say that his game weight those days was way above what made Burke explode several years earlier.

He was back in Östersund (one of the towns he played in) this february, as the Soviet Legends faced the Three Crown Legends. Due to poor health, he couldn't play, but he took the ice and waved to a roaring crowd.

Puck wrote:Yeesh... it's been awhile since I saw any of that footage. Wow. I forgot how well those guys moved the puck.

Yeah, it was unreal. On an individual basis, there are players that may have been better than either of the green unit (Krutov, Larionov, Makarov, Kasatonov, Fetisov), but those five guys played with each other year in, year out and could make tape to tape cross ice passes at full speed in their sleep, blind folded. I've never seen anything like it. On a good day the twins can emulate some of that magic, but there's just two of them. The KLM line is probably the best line hockey has ever seen, and their two constant D-men, Kasatonov and Fetisov, were also outstanding.

When they were in their prime and Sweden played the Soviet union, it was a good day if we could keep the goals against in the single digits...

And then they had Tretyak in goal as well... Sheesh.

Even though we hated losing to them, watching them play was a thing of beauty.

It was when the team finally changed from the God awful yellow back to white at home and black on the road (still had the skate logo) and Quinn held back until the first game of the regular season for the team to come out sporting the new gear.

They looked fukin good leaving the dressing room and hitting the ice that night in the white gear and there was a good feeling in the rink for the first time in a while.

We had a couple of tough guys (Coxe and Stanley) for the first time in a long time (McCammon, Quinn and Burke weren't gonna get pushed around on the ice) and there was a buzz about the Russians of course.

Krutov obviously disappointed in the end but you could clearly see the skill.

He had a breakaway once and while not flying in like Guy Lafleur he put a shot top corner glove side that was reminiscent of Mario Lemieux Canada Cup 1987.